One with the Rain
by Ayumu Foxtail-chan
Summary: The rain signaled her grief, her heartbreak, the sinking feeling she had that there wouldn't be a happy ending. However, the rain felt peaceful, and she was just glad she was able to help him one last time. —Gruvia


**Hello there! Just a (hopefully angsty) Gruvia one-shot. It should be kinda sad, kinda bittersweet. It's just my little take on what might happen in the future. Spoilers up to some of the newer manga chapters, so just a warning. :D**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoy! :D**

* * *

 _ **One with the Rain**_

 _"_ _You ever know why the rain stopped?"_

 _"_ _Mm… perhaps. It's a little bit complicated."_

He was heaven in human form, yet sometimes he felt like hell. Was it ironic that the two things she saw last, as her vision blurred, were also the two things it seemed she saw first? Maybe. Or maybe it was what was always meant to be.

The rain had been ever-present. She couldn't remember a time without it, even as a small child. It wasn't surprising to her that it'd be the thing hitting her face, rolling down her cheeks as she stared into the grey sky with thunderous clouds, realizing that death was on her doorstep.

However, it was a bit surprising, to her, that _he_ was the second and last thing she saw. It was when she met him that she considered her life to have begun. The drab endless days turned light and for a few glorious years, she'd been able to feel what the term "life" truly felt like.

And so it was ironic, or perhaps maybe inevitable, that she was staring up at him and the rain when it all came crashing down.

 _"_ _Complicated?"_

 _"_ _Yeah. Complicated. It was sort of subconscious, Juvia guesses... something changed inside to make the rain stop."_

His touch had always felt like what she pictured life after death to be. It would send shivers down her spine and a heat so hot it felt cold to her extremities. She loved the feel of his skin, the reaction it gave her, and yet she sometimes felt as if she didn't deserve it.

It was silly to think, but every once in a while when he'd reject her affections, she wondered if she really deserved to be with someone like him. Whether it was a partnership or something more.

Although, just when she'd begin to have those doubts, he'd turn around and do something that made her heart beat fast in anticipation. Just when she was sure he didn't care, and he was out of her league, he'd break down in front of her, showing a sense of vulnerability she was positive he wouldn't show to anyone else.

And so it was a little confusing. Was he out of reach or was he just at her fingertips?

 _"_ _Something inside of_ you _?"_

 _"_ _Yes."_

 _"_ _Emotionally?"_

 _"…_ _Yes."_

 _"_ _What's with the smile?"_

 _"_ _Nothing! Oh, it's nothing. Juvia is just remembering back to those days."_

The day that he'd acquired that… magic, or those marks on his skin, –she wasn't entirely sure which was the culprit- was the day she felt a change in his touch.

No longer did it feel like heaven to her, rather… ice. She'd always found comfort and maybe even a little warmth in his ice but his touch now… was cold. More than just uncaring. More than just the times when he'd brush her hand away. It didn't feel like Gray Fullbuster anymore.

He promised he was in control and that she didn't need to think twice about the black marks marring his body. She'd ask, concerned, and he'd shake his head and walk away. He didn't want to share what they were, or why they were growing, and if she said she was okay with it, she would've been lying.

 _"_ _Remembering back to the days with the rain? Why? I thought you were miserable."_

 _"_ _Juvia was… It was very miserable. However, it's nice sometimes to look back and see how far Juvia's come."_

The rain came back the day he left.

They'd spent six glorious and heavenly months together in that small cottage, and from time to time he left. Maybe he went out on a quick solo job or maybe he went somewhere for a reason he wouldn't share with her, but he'd left before. It wasn't anything new. Yet somehow, she could feel the change.

This time he wasn't coming back. Subconsciously she knew it and it appeared the skies reacted to her deep-seeded grief in the thought that maybe she'd never see him again.

It'd been confusing and hellish. She truly believed the man she idolized was heaven, and yet it was times like those when she began to think maybe she'd been mistaken, and he was in fact the polar opposite. Because her heart was so attached to him that even the slightest of distances between them was a little painful, let alone how excruciating it felt to not know if he would ever come back.

The day when her former guildmates came to her was a turning point, she guessed. She'd made herself ill waiting for him, the rain drenching her to her soul just as it had as a child. She'd reverted back to the being the dreary rain woman and she didn't like it. She didn't like the person she used to be and the fact that she relapsed back simply when he was gone was a little panic-inducing.

He was like a lifesource. If he was gone, so was all her progress. The progress she'd made from her days in Phantom Lord. All of the smiles and laughter and growth that she'd had seemingly disappeared if he wasn't within sight.

It was frustrating, relying that much on him. She was grateful beyond belief that he'd been the catalyst in converting her into the person she wanted to be, but it was frustrating that he still had to be there to keep her that way. She wasn't strong enough yet to continue to be her best self without him.

That was also a reason why sometimes he felt like hell. He was bringing her everything she wanted and needed and yet he delved her back into her dark torturous rain clouds when he was gone. She needed him more than just because she loved him, and it sometimes felt incapacitating.

However, when her guildmates, her friends, came to her side and somehow, found him… she changed for the better again.

She had faith in Gray. She had faith he wasn't evil and wouldn't give in to the darker feelings she was positive those marks on his body were giving him. However, it was a relief beyond any she could put into words when she received the news that he'd simply been undercover, infiltrating Avatar.

He hadn't joined some dark guild as she'd feared when word came he was with that… cult.

She felt bad for ever doubting him, and yet something still told her to be careful. That those marks meant trouble, even if he'd told everyone that he knew how to control them now.

The rain disappeared again the instant she laid eyes upon him. He was fighting, so far away he was only a dot in the distance and yet her heart jumped and her eyes widened and a new wave of life overtook her. The clouds fizzled and the rain stopped.

 _"_ _Yeah, ya have come a long way since the day we met. I guess there's no harm in remembering that, but blocking out the rain."_

 _"_ _Oh no, Juvia doesn't block out her memories of the rain."_

 _"_ _Why not? It'd make things easier, I'd think."_

 _"_ _It could… yes, but Juvia needs to remember where she came from. Plus, she hasn't been in the rain in a long while… it feels a little dry sometimes."_

Life continued on, as it always did. Maybe they were plunged into unique situations as always -it seemed Fairy Tail had a knack for attracting those- but overall… things became normal again.

He apologized… in his own way, for leaving her without any notice. It was enough for her, and she didn't miss the smile on his face when she said he was forgiven, and that he'd always be forgiven. Their relationship resumed in its odd way. Not quite a friendship, or a partnership, or a relationship but… it was what they'd always had. Which had, in its own way, become comfortable.

However, those black marks didn't go away, and no matter how much he said he could control them, she knew something was wrong.

It was in times when she'd see him look off to the side with worry when he was alone, or the times his hand would twitch and clench into a fist when he was asleep. Something was wrong… and even if everyone else believed him, she didn't. She knew him the best, after all, through her careful observation and obsession over him.

It'd been a bleak day for Fairy Tail when whatever sort of demon living inside him and the marks on his body won the constant war. He'd been battling with it, trying to suppress the monster in his body and he'd done well, but eventually… he just couldn't keep up with it anymore.

It was earth-shattering when she watched his sharp and yet caring eyes go black, cold, heartless and dead. She couldn't feel him anymore, and his touches went cold and dark just as they had before he'd left her in their cottage. It wasn't Gray that touched her anymore… it was some imposter in his body that felt nothing like him.

And once more the rain came.

 _"_ _Dry? What, do you actually miss the rain?"_

 _"_ _Oh goodness no, Juvia doesn't miss it. Well… she doesn't miss the constant rain. However, it would be nice every once in a while."_

 _"_ _Why would it be nice? Why after all of those years you said seemed wasted because of it, would it be nice for it to come back?"_

 _"_ _Oh, Gray-sama…"_

 _"_ _Again with the smile. You know, sometimes I don't think I'll ever understand you."_

 _"_ _Perhaps."_

The rain was unrelenting as the world as she knew it was turned upside down. She watched him, the demon inside of Gray, run rampant. It was inhuman how fast he moved, how carelessly he killed, and how heartless he'd become.

When his friends, his family, yelled at him to stop or to get ahold of himself, he didn't flinch. Nowhere on his face did it show Gray Fullbuster. That demon had taken over entirely.

It was fitting that a downpour of her own accord happened while she watched everything she held dear go up in flames. She was still, unmoving and uncomprehending as she watched the people she loved, injured and torn at the seams because of him.

It seemed his rampage would never end. No one could stop him. That demon he held in his body was far stronger than any of them could've guessed. Perhaps it'd been a miracle in and of itself that Gray was able to push that demon off for so long. How strong had he been to keep it at bay for so many months?

And so when he came to her, panting, his skin and hands covered in the blood of her comrades, she couldn't do anything. She couldn't lay a hand on the man she loved, even if it was only his body now, taken over by some other being who she was positive was hell embodied.

It was ironic, that such a grace from heaven, the one that'd saved her, had now been taken over by something so dark.

The times in the past when she'd contemplated whether he was heaven or hell were put to rest. He was an angel, she was sure of it. Because even if the emotions he gave her were tearing her apart from the inside out, they couldn't compare to the devastation that this thing, this creature undoubtedly from Zeref, gave the her and the world alike.

He only paused for a brief second, long enough for her to take in a quick sharp breath as her eyes scanned him up and down once more, praying for some sign of humanity but coming up empty, before lunging.

He moved like an animal, something so inhuman.

She couldn't remember the exact time she'd gotten hit by him. It all went black for a second, maybe because she didn't want to admit to the fact that he would hurt her. She couldn't remember the stabbing pain in her chest as the claws he'd grown punctured through her skin, the sound of cracking bones pungent in the air as he sunk into her heart.

She couldn't remember falling to the ground as he withdrew with a gurgling yell.

However, she remembered the last moments with a clarity unlike any other.

Something had snapped in him, and even through bleary eyes she could see.

He held his face in his hands, his eyes wide and wild as he keeled over, letting out blood-curdling cries so loud that his voice cracked and went silent.

She could feel the pain in her chest, the hot blood trickling out of her wound and down onto the grass below. She felt her labored heartbeats become more and more uneven and a lightheadedness engulfed her. She knew he'd dealt a fatal blow, and yet she felt… at ease.

It hurt with a searing pain she'd never felt before, and yet she didn't make a sound, instead watching him with hopeful eyes.

He was coming back.

The demon inside of him that'd massacred nearly the entire town of Magnolia, the one bearing a striking resemblance to the monster that Gray'd feared and hated for so long growing up, and the demon that'd sliced a hole in her chest was being repressed.

She felt him again, the black eyes of the monster dimming to the pained and human grey that she'd learned to love.

He mechanically looked over towards her, his mouth open in a soundless scream as he continued to try and upheave the demon. She recognized panic and guilt in his expression, worry and horror as he laid eyes on her, bleeding out on the ground.

Her lip twitched weakly towards a smile as she stared blankly up at the sky, and him, only a few feet away.

Was it ironic that the two things she saw last, as her vision blurred, were also the two things it seemed she saw first? Maybe. Or maybe it was what was always meant to be.

Yes, it was definitely meant to be. Rain, and the sun that was the man she loved. She couldn't have thought of anything she wanted her last vision to be more.

She saw him come back, overriding the demon and a newfound sense of tranquility washed over her entire body. She was glad she'd get to see him again… and she was also glad that she'd finally helped him.

He'd been her savior since the day they'd met. He'd been the one to banish the rain and give her life. And it was finally her turn to repay him. She had been positive nothing would've been able to make him come to, to fight back against the demon that'd taken over, but apparently there was one thing: hurting her. It was something that shook him so deeply that he'd been able to come back.

She wasn't sure if it was enough to keep him under control. She wasn't sure if she closed her eyes if the demon wouldn't come right back and continue its rampage, but she had faith. She had faith in her savior and faith that he had the strength to overcome himself.

And for some reason her mind remembered their conversation that day. He never asked her questions, really. He didn't show interest in her, or any of the things she'd shared with him, but that day… he'd actually been the one to initiate a question.

He'd asked her why the rain stopped. And by the end of the conversation he'd been confused, and wondering why she sometimes wanted the rain to come back for a bit.

It was glaringly obvious to her: she associated the two of them. It would've been nice for the rain to return for pieces of time because she'd overcome all the stigma and bad energy she felt with the rain because of him. He'd made it stop, he'd banished it for good, and yet they were similar to her.

They were a constant in her life, something she'd assimilated herself to and something while she hated it sometimes, because it was painful and confusing, she also loved it, because it was a part of who she was. It was because of him that she'd learned to put aside her qualms and become one with her past and the rain.

It was all because of him. And so she decided, as her chest began to heave laboriously, the ominous fingers of death coming ever-closer to clutching her, she'd finally answer his question. She wasn't sure if it'd do him any good, or if she was doing it for herself, but she felt the need to answer. Why had the rain stopped? And why did she sometimes wish the rain would return…?

"I've found peace with the rain," she said carefully, each word coming out slowly and yet unslurred.

Through him, of course, although that was something she'd keep to herself. Through him the rain didn't seem so dreary; it felt warmer, as if his presence was in it when it fell since she'd met him. She associated them after all; her two constants.

In the last moment before her eyes closed for the final time, she saw him still, the convulsions caused by the fight between him and the demon for custody of the body ceasing, and his eyes flickering back to the warmth she'd grown to love, staring at her as if slowly internalizing her words, before a single and fleeting tear rolled down his cheek.

The tear could've been lost in the rain, mistaken for one of her own drops of water, but she knew.

And it was because of that tear, and the fact that she'd been the one to ultimately help him overcome the demon and was finally able to repay him, that she was able to close her eyes, a feeling of closure and utter peace overtaking her as everything slowly faded away.

* * *

 **I know Gray was all like "lol jk I was just infiltrating Avatar" but something tells me that he can't control his marks all the way and he's just putting on a strong face... but maybe that's just me.**

 **I wrote this for a little fanfiction contest on DeviantART. Pain/Tradgedy was the prompt. It came in 3rd so I'm so incredibly honored, and grateful to the people who chose it! :D**

 **Does anyone else have a headcanon that Gray might still not be completely sane? I hope I'm not the only one. XD I'd love to hear what you thought of it! :D**

 **~Foxtail-chan**


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